By: Rick Landers
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter at GearFest 2015 – photo credit: Rick Landers
With attendance hitting 10,000 at GearFest 2015, there was a long line of folks trying to get in to see Jeff “Skunk” Baxter present his seminar on music and to hear the Doobie brother play.
Guitarists, recording engineers and music enthusiasts enjoyed an hour of conversation with the famed guitarist and national security consultant.
Sponsored by the Roland Corporation, Baxter’s presentation was a low key, informative and highly entertaining conversation about the complementariness of physics and music.
Drawing a series of types of wavelengths, he explained laser technology and how focused rays could result in very powerful tools, playfully interjecting that doing this in a certain way, “You could cook a rabbit.”
His seminar covered topics as diverse as Lenny Breau [guitarist], Edward Teller [physicist], helping refugee children, the connectivity and essence of the human spirit, the cosmos and music as a stress reliever.
Time was flying by, but the audience was loving it.
Baxter was intriguing, informative and playful. He answered questions that referred to how long he’d grown his mutton chops [since he was 18 years old]; how would he describe the music of guitarist Lenny Breau [he listens to him from both sides, because Lenny was doing things from different directions]; what guitarists does he like these days [Eric Johnson; Trey Anastasio and the best – Jeff Beck].
BOSS SY-300 used by Skunk Baxter to demonstrate the capabilities of the new pedal.
Time was running out and he had a flight to get back L.A. So, he pulled out a sunburst Stratocaster, harnessed it to Roland’s BOSS Guitar Synthesizer SY-300 that was set to “U45 Sorrow Lands” and pulled out some eerie sounds, to demonstrate the gear’s capabilities. Skunk was clearly taken by the pedal and his enthusiasm was catching.
But, all good things must come to an end and he had to pack and run, but not before some quick pics with fans.
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